CLSA in SF Business Times: How these California Life Sciences Assn. award winners shape Bay Area Biotech

Elizabeth Schar worked with the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to look at the effectiveness of anti-smoking campaigns. But, she said, she knew little about science.

“My real expertise is in messaging,” Schar said. “But I’m also a very polite nag.”

Yet when Schar heard about the high dropout rate of students from Ravenswood City School District — a minority-rich K-8 district in East Palo Alto — she mobilized her fellow Menlo Church members in Menlo Park to get involved.

“I’m motivated by justice,” Schar said. “To me, it seems totally unfair that these kids from this district are asked to go to high schools and are required to be expert in subject matter they’re not prepared for. We, as adults, owe these children the resources they need to be successful.”